Went to Focus at Imaging here in UK on Monday and they had the 200-400 on a Mk4 for any one to have a play with. I had a 5 min play and its brilliant! Any one else had a play with one? DO we have a release date for it yet cos the guy behind the desk said that Canon had no plans to release it yet.
I would certainly buy at £7000.00 UK. The 1.4 converter switch just works, no resistance to speak of a very sweet lens.

OK... its frustrating as the lens I tried out felt like a finished product. Yes 7 grand does seem a lot but I have immediate and regular use for it and would swallow the price for the increased productivity it would give me. I photograph a lot of dressage at all levels and have gone through a Sigma 120-300 + 1.4 tc and now use a Canon 300 2.8 . The quality difference is marked plus I can shoot wide open in very low light and achieve focus. Cannot do that with the Sigma. So the 200-400 is the logical step especially with the 1Dx and the 5Dmk3 bodies.

What I understand is, due to the Tsunami, floods in Thailand or whatever, Canon got behind in growing the fluorite for the UD elements. So, consequentially, they have had to adjust priorities, meaning the more popular lenses get the UD and the super lenses are going to have to wait in line.

grahamg wrote:
OK... its frustrating as the lens I tried out felt like a finished product. Yes 7 grand does seem a lot but I have immediate and regular use for it and would swallow the price for the increased productivity it would give me. I photograph a lot of dressage at all levels and have gone through a Sigma 120-300 + 1.4 tc and now use a Canon 300 2.8 . The quality difference is marked plus I can shoot wide open in very low light and achieve focus. Cannot do that with the Sigma. So the 200-400 is the logical step especially with the 1Dx and the 5Dmk3 bodies....Show more →

It's been said that the 200-400 you tried at focus is one of only 2 in existance at the moment.
How true that is I don't know. But I bet canon are hopeing to get all the new goodies out to the relevant users by the Olympics.

John_T wrote:
What I understand is, due to the Tsunami, floods in Thailand or whatever, Canon got behind in growing the fluorite for the UD elements. So, consequentially, they have had to adjust priorities, meaning the more popular lenses get the UD and the super lenses are going to have to wait in line.

Not exactly. Canon defines UD elements as having extremely low dispersion (similar to ED in other brands), but not made from fluorite. The fluorite elements are listed separately from UD in the specifications.

John_T wrote:
What I understand is, due to the Tsunami, floods in Thailand or whatever, Canon got behind in growing the fluorite for the UD elements. So, consequentially, they have had to adjust priorities, meaning the more popular lenses get the UD and the super lenses are going to have to wait in line.

Not exactly. Canon defines UD elements as having extremely low dispersion (similar to ED in other brands), but not made from fluorite. The fluorite elements are listed separately from UD in the specifications.

grahamg wrote:
Went to Focus at Imaging here in UK on Monday and they had the 200-400 on a Mk4 for any one to have a play with. I had a 5 min play and its brilliant! Any one else had a play with one? DO we have a release date for it yet cos the guy behind the desk said that Canon had no plans to release it yet.
I would certainly buy at £7000.00 UK. The 1.4 converter switch just works, no resistance to speak of a very sweet lens.

How does that compare in size with the Nikkor? I can easily handhold that 200-400/4 for relatively long periods compared to a 500/4 and I love the close focus. The Canon may be a ridiculously large lens.

Stuart Harling (aka Bones74) had a chance to handle a prototype (?) a year ago ( see this thread from last August). In there he said that the zoom felt heavier than 400 f/2.8 IS MkII.
If the 200-400L weight is not reduced for the production units, then that will IMO become a significant drawback of that lens model. Zoom or not, why get a 400 f/4 lens which weighs as much, and is probably priced as highly, as the 400 f/2.8 IS MkII prime ? A built in 1.4xTC is a neat "novelty", but I can very quickly mount 1.4xTC or 2xTC on 400 f/2.8 IS MkII and thereby obtain a couple of very nicely performing options, i.e., 560mm f/4 and 800mm f/5.6 combos.